


You're My Home

by CaptainOfDaShip



Category: The Boys (TV 2019)
Genre: Angst and Feels, Boys In Love, Boys Kissing, Comfort, Dorks in Love, Dysfunctional Family, Falling In Love, Family Bonding, Family Dynamics, Family Fluff, Feels, Fluff and Smut, Gay, Gay Panic, Gay Sex, Hurt/Comfort, Love Confessions, M/M, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-24
Updated: 2021-01-28
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:47:49
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 20,912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27183361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainOfDaShip/pseuds/CaptainOfDaShip
Summary: **S2 Finale Spoilers** When one desires a home, another a purpose, and another love. Will they be able to find it all in each other?
Relationships: Billy Butcher/Hughie Campbell
Comments: 49
Kudos: 158





	1. Three of Us

**Author's Note:**

> Originally I had planned on making this one LONG fic but I figured splicing it up will help all of you read it better. So if it feels like it got cut off rather than having a good ending for each chapter that's why.
> 
> Also i'm just going to change it now but that rating represents future smut.

Grace Mallory stared at the boy then back at Billy Butcher. Everything that happened was a damn shame, but if there’s anything she knew. The world was a cruel and unforgiving place. Billy quite possibly did the right thing. He had no business trying to raise a kid, especially not without a good hearted and sane person around. She almost wanted to take the kid herself, having lost her own so many years ago. But she was just as jaded as Butcher, maybe even more so. No the kid would be going someplace top secret with a new hired caretaker. And the boy will most likely end up like his father. One can only pray and hope that he wouldn’t. Mallory had her doubts. 

“Are you sure?” 

“Aye.” 

“Alright. Also in light of everything my director finally accepts the fact that we need a branch devoted to keeping supes in check. A position just opened up for you. Want it?” 

Butcher just nodded his head. It’s about time someone realized his efforts were needed.  
But, he knew now he’d be on a leash. 

“Good, come by my house and we’ll work everything out. Okay now Ryan, come here. It’s time to go.” 

“Okay.” 

Butcher finally found the strength to speak, he needed to say something to him. He may never see him again after all. 

“I’m sorry kid. I really am.” 

But just then out of the blue a lanky man rushed up to them. Startling everyone, nearly getting shot. 

“No don’t shoot!” 

Mallory sighed as she saw it was just Butcher’s friend/teammate Hughie. 

“It’s okay stand down.” 

The men in suits lowered their guns and hovered cautiously. Mallory sighed and turned to the new intruder.

“What do you want Hughie?” 

Hughie tried catching his breath giving everyone a one minute finger as he felt like his lungs would collapse. Butcher glared him down knowing full well he was here to fuck shit up. Just like he usually does. 

“Oy! We don’t have time for this kid.”

“Just hear me out. Mallory can you hide us three?” 

“What, you two and the kid?” 

“Yeah, think about it. He needs a home, and I can help Butcher raise him.” 

“What?!” 

Butcher shouts at Hughie looking half enraged and half confused. 

“This way you can make sure the government isn’t fucking up Becca’s kid. And if there’s anyone that the kid should trust to stay safe it’s you.” 

The last part he said, he knew it was more about himself. Butcher made him feel safe, well for the most part anyway. He’d rather be with/around Butcher than be doing this alone that’s for sure. He’d have died months ago otherwise. 

“Fine whatever get in the van.” 

Mallory saw Hughie gently grasp Ryan’s hand and then they climbed into the van. She stopped Butcher from following. 

“I don’t know if this plan will work, but the kid has a point. It’d be better off if Ryan was raised by people he at least somewhat knows. Plus Hughie has a good heart, people like that are in short supply these days. Take care of them.” 

“Aye.” 

She lets Butcher past as he shuts the van door behind them they drive off. Mallory stands for a few seconds letting her mind think. She pulled a cigarette out of her pocket and lit up. The corner of her lips curled slightly. 

“Maybe it’s not all lost after all.” 

The van drove on seemingly forever. Everyone was deadly silent. Ryan fell asleep on Hughies shoulder from all of the stress. Hughie felt like he was drifting off himself. He looked at Butcher and saw in his eyes a small sign of gratitude, the rest was uncertainty. He shot Butcher a small smile before his eyes also shut. 

So much had happened Butcher didn’t think there was anything good left in the world. But here they were, right in front of him. Two pure hearted souls sleeping comfortably as if nothing terrible had just happened at all. Billy found he couldn’t look on for two long, they were almost too bright. 

They pulled up to a small farm house from what Billy could tell was about two hours from the city and 30 minutes from any near town. They were for the lack of better term, out in the boonies. Good old bumble-fuck America. It made sense really, it’s much easier to hide out here. 

Butcher got out of the van and took in a giant breath of air. That’s one thing he missed living in that basement, fresh air. Hughie slowly lumbered out with an equally tired Ryan in tow. They both stared at the single farmhouse with the giant expanse of land around them. There was a single truck near the barn and a windmill out back. The house itself looked as old as time itself. 

“I hope Mallory knows neither of us are Farmers. Ryan and I are both suburbians for crying out loud.” 

“You got us into this mess with your bleeding heart. Deal with it.” 

Butcher glared at Hughie then went off towards the barn. 

“You wanna check out the house?” 

“Sure.” 

“I bet it’s bigger than your last one at least. Let’s just hope it doesn’t fall down.” 

Ryan chuckled and Hughie was shocked to hear the boy laugh. Joining in himself for a bit before walking them towards the door. He finally heard the boy laugh, maybe there is hope for them.


	2. Vienna

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fluffy Filler

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay! Ideally i'd like to update weekly but it'll be more like 1.5-2 weeks. So for this chapter it was meant to be longer, but I decided to split everything up further.

Day three and Hughie was going out of his mind. No internet, no cell phone, no laptop, and not even any cable! He hadn’t felt this absence of technology since his younger years. But back then he at least had; school, friends, toys, and a child’s imagination to keep him company. 

Ryan on the other hand was oddly enough thriving. Between the open space, lack of people, and the tower of DVDs stacked next to the TV he was content. Most of the movies Hughie had seen already, but watching Ryan experience them for the first time? Well it felt like a trip for him, so much so they began their own little movie nights. 

During the day Hughie tried to keep himself occupied by examining the tattered cook book left in the dusty kitchen. Today he was determined to try some of the more elaborate recipes. He rummaged through the kitchen trying to find a Kitchenaid or even a hand mixer. Unfortunately for him, there weren’t any to be found. The amount of things that were allowed to draw upon any power in the house were very few and randomly chosen. 

Everything including the electricity was powered by the single windmill out back and a solar panel. So the need to even pay for power wasn’t required. He knew it was safer if everything was now analogue. The less they were on the grid the harder it was to be tracked. But this felt a bit too extreme to him. 

Normally on any other given day Hughie wouldn’t wake up at the crack of dawn, that was Butcher. But boredom drove Hughie to explore, and he was at the kitchen staring at the cookbook when he heard heavy footsteps descend the stairs. 

“Hey.” 

Butcher just grunted before grabbing the door knob. 

“WAIT!” 

Butcher actually stopped in his tracks and sighed. 

“What is it?” 

Do you think it’s possible for Mallory to get a little more things for the house? And maybe the barn? 

“Like what Hughie? Is princess not satisfied in her castle?” 

Hughie just shook his head at that remark and sighed. Even this early in the morning he had to be so rude. 

“I just thought if we had at least cable news, we’d know what’s going on. Also I think the barn having some animals would be good for Ryan. Animal therapy and all.”   
Billy scratched his beard in contemplation. The kid did bring up a few good points. 

“Just ask Mallory? That’s the least I’m asking. If she doesn’t agree then alright I’ll figure something out. Just ask….please.” 

It still astounded the Brit how even after everything Hughie had gone through he was still himself. He hadn’t turned all hardened and cruel, he was still normal. Somehow he still radiated pure unadultered innocence. Butcher shook himself from his thoughts and cleared his throat. 

“I’ll see what I can do.” 

“Thanks.” 

The gruff man turned and rushed out the door before Hughie could stop him again. Outside, the engine of the rusty truck roared to life and pulled off onto the dirt road. 

“Well at least he gets to go and do something.” 

Just then he heard two small feet pattering down the steps. 

“Good morning Ryan!” 

“Oh hi, good morning.”

“Did we wake you?” 

“No.” 

“Good, did you sleep well? 

“I guess.” 

“Hey um, so breakfast is gonna be a little late why not watch something while I whip up something?” 

“Okay.” 

The kid groggily made his way to the living room and sat himself in front of the TV. The jingle of a bygone era sitcom could be heard in the distance. 

‘Thank you for being a friend’ 

Later that day Butcher was about to head home when he remembered Hughie’s request. 

“Shite…” 

He muttered under his breath as he turned and made for Mallory’s office. Butcher entered without even knocking, causing Mallory to just sigh. She motioned for the man talking to her to wait outside. 

“What is it you want now?” 

“The kid was thinking it’d be good for the boy to have more activities. Maybe even some animals to play with.” 

“Animal therapy, the kid might be on to something. They do say harming animals is a good indicator of psychopaths. Alright I’ll have someone one come over on Friday, be ready for it.” 

“That why it says I have a holiday tomorrow? You already planned for it?” 

“You live on a farm Butcher. Animal therapy or not you need some animals for the illusion of farm life.” 

“Right…Cheers.” 

Butcher opened the door and let the weasily looking man back into Mallory’s office. He whistled on the way to his truck, like the right cunt he felt he was slowly becoming. For some odd known reason for once he wasn’t dreading driving back to that farm. 

That night Ryan was helping Hughie clean the dishes after the practically burnt food Hughie made. Practically burned was better than his first night of cooking for them. Frenchie was always in charge of the cooking, so Hughie didn’t bother. But now he wished, like Kimiko, he also took lessons from him. 

“Um, Hughie?” 

“Yeah?” 

“What should we watch tonight?” 

“I’m not sure, I still haven’t gone through that giant DVD box yet.” 

“I can’t believe how many I haven’t seen before.” 

Hughie chuckled as he handed Ryan the last dish to towel dry. 

“You’re still young, there’s plenty of things for you to watch and experience.” 

Ryan awkwardly smiled and placed the now dry dish onto the drying rack. 

“Alright now you head into the living room and I’ll get the popcorn.” 

“Okay!” 

He ran into the room, and quickly turned on the TV. The sound of the loud CRT TV powering up could be heard as Hughie watched popcorn pop. The man stared into the microwave lost in thought. He wondered how long did Mallory plan on having them live here? Until the kid grew up? 

Just then the microwave beeped and pulled Hughie out of his thoughts. He gingerly grabbed the steaming hot bag of popcorn and poured it into a bowl. Thankfully popcorn was something he hadn’t burned yet. He rushed with the bowl into the living room, nearly spilling the bowl on the way. 

“So any movies in mind? Or do you want me to pick?” 

“Um these sound cool.” 

“The Matrix, Lord of the Rings, and Mission Impossible. Wow you sure you don’t want to watch anything more…You know for kids?” 

“Nah, I never really liked the kid stuff.” 

“You know you shouldn’t try so hard to grow up so fast. Trust me I’d rather be a kid for a little bit more than have to adult.” 

“Yeah maybe.” 

“Alright, well what about Lord of the Rings? There’s three of them, we could watch one a night.” 

“Alright!” 

The kid swiped the case off of the table and gingerly placed it on the dvd tray. Hughie sat back smiling inwardly hoping his devious plan would work. The movie was over three hours long, in hopes maybe the kid and or him would fall asleep immediately. 

“Hughie?” 

“Hmm?” 

Hughie stretched and shook himself awake. Somehow his plan had failed him. Ryan was enthralled with the movie, not feeling drowsy in the slightest. As for Hughie had falled right asleep. 

“I hope you don’t mind I didn’t want to wake you. But I put the next movie in. I couldn’t wait till tomorrow.” 

“That’s fine, glad you’re liking them. I grew up on them, wait where are we? And what time is it?” 

“At Rohan, and it’s um 11.”

“Huh, isn’t Butcher usually back by now?” 

Ryan just shrugged and went back to rewinding the movie. 

“What’s up? Why are you rewinding?” 

“I want to show you something.” 

“Um, okay. What is it?” 

“Here.” 

“Yeah?” 

Ryan paused upon a very familiar looking face. The man was clad in armor with the sun’s rays hitting his beautiful golden locks. 

“Why does he look familiar?” 

Hughie squinted and the realization hit him like a ton of bricks. The character Eomer looked almost exactly like a young Billy Butcher. 

“He looks like Butcher doesn’t he?” 

“Oh my God he does!” 

They both look at each other and laugh. Hughie nearly knocked the half empty bowl of popcorn over as they laughed on. Ryan was on the floor holding his stomach as tears of joy fell down his face. 

“Can you imagine Butcher with long blonde hair now?” 

“Stop!” 

Ryan and Hughie kept laughing on hysterically when Butcher slammed the front door closed. 

“What are you hyenas on about?” 

He looked at the screen and he huffed unamused. Hughie managed to reign in his laughter and spoke. 

“Welcome back.” 

“Am I right in saying you both are having a laugh thinking the poncy bloke looks like me?” 

“Um, yeah pretty much.” 

“Right, well Grace is coming on Friday.” 

“Oh my God really? Thanks!” 

“It wasn’t me. Said she already had plans.” 

“Well thanks anyway. Do you want to join us and finish the movie?” 

“Nah I’m thinking on having a little lie down.” 

“Suit yourself.”

Hughie went back to watching the movie when Ryan moved to sit next to him. His head slowly fell onto the young man’s shoulders as they watched on. He sighed, everything had fallen down over them the past few months. 

So much had happened that it was hard to even know where to start. Both of them were so eager to move on, to stop feeling so much pain. Hughie wanted to find a purpose in his life that didn’t involve hurting anyone. While Ryan just wanted everything to go back to being normal. They pushed these thoughts away and just let the film distract them for a while. For now, everything was alright. 

Slow down, you crazy child  
You're so ambitious for a juvenile  
But then if you're so smart, then tell me  
Why are you still so afraid?

Where's the fire, what's the hurry about?  
You'd better cool it off before you burn it out  
You've got so much to do  
And only so many hours in a day

But you know that when the truth is told  
That you can get what you want or you get old  
You're gonna kick off before you even  
Get halfway through  
When will you realize, Vienna waits for you

Slow down, you're doing fine  
You can't be everything you want to be  
Before your time  
Although it's so romantic on the borderline tonight  
Tonight,  
Too bad but it's the life you lead  
You're so ahead of yourself that you forgot what you need  
Though you can see when you're wrong, you know  
You can't always see when you're right. you're right

You've got your passion, you've got your pride  
But don't you know that only fools are satisfied?  
Dream on, but don't imagine they'll all come true  
When will you realize, Vienna waits for you?

Slow down, you crazy child  
And take the phone off the hook and disappear for awhile  
It's all right, you can afford to lose a day or two  
When will you realize, Vienna waits for you?  
And you know that when the truth is told  
That you can get what you want or you can just get old  
You're gonna kick off before you even get half through  
Why don't you realize, Vienna waits for you  
When will you realize, Vienna waits for you? 

Source: LyricFind  
Songwriters: Billy Joel  
Vienna lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Universal Music Publishing Group


	3. Highland Falls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In comes a messenger with news of what's to come.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait everyone. So lately I've been having a really hard time trying to find motivation to keep writing this. Well motivation and direction. What had originally been a fluffy one shot concept idea, now is a multi-chapter fic. I have major plot point ideas in my head but no real idea of how to connect them and add filler in between. Now don't worry I won't abandon this story, but if it reads directionless. That's because it kind of is. Also finding the PERFECT Billy Joel song to fit is a lot harder than one would expect. I had the notion he wrote about everything, but I think that was Bruce Springsteen I was thinking about. XD

Hughie awoke to the sound of hammering. He rubbed his eyes and then his heart nearly stopped from shock when he saw Ryan in his doorway. The kid was standing their biting his lip, looking like he was nervous about something. 

“Whoa Ryan, you scared me there! What’s up?” 

“Butcher is outside working on the fence. Do you think we’re getting animals soon?” 

“Hopefully.” 

Hughie wiped his face and yawned. He sat up in the bed and glanced over at Ryan. The boy still looked nervous, like he had something else worrying him. 

“Um, Ryan? You okay?”

“Yeah…I was just wondering if I should go ask him if he needs help? I know he doesn’t really like me.” 

“Yeah you know what that’s a good idea! You should help him. Oh hey did you eat yet?”

“Yeah I found some cereal.”

“Ok good. Let me get dressed and we’ll go meet him outside.” 

Ryan gave Hughie a nervous smile and left him to change. But Hughie just sat there thinking. Maybe this would be a good way for Ryan to worm his way into Butcher’s heart? But would the kid be alright if Butcher goes into one of his infamous explosive temper tantrums? He is a supe, so physically he should be alright. But mentally, the kid was still fragile. 

Outside Butcher kept a box filled to the brim of nails near him, as he worked on repairing the wire fence. Some parts of the fence just needed the wire to be hammered back into place. Whilst other parts the wood was disintegrating, and needed to be replaced altogether. Butcher surveyed the vast amount of land and fence on the property and sighed. This alone will take him all day, maybe even longer. He had hoped that he wouldn’t have to do much to prepare for the shipment of animals. But it seems luck wasn’t in his favor this time. 

He heard the front door open and figured Hughie would come to awkwardly stand over him. Having something or another to blather on about. However what he didn’t expect was a tiny little hand, offering him a new nail. Butcher grunted and took the offered nail and swiftly hammered it into place. As much as he didn’t care for the kid, deep down he was grateful. Maybe with the kid’s help this wouldn’t take all day. 

Hughie smiled and watched Butcher silently accept Ryan’s help. Reassured that nothing would go wrong he went back inside to make lunch. 

In the kitchen he hummed along to another Billy Joel song as he made some sandwiches. Hughie had a smile plastered on his face as he made quick work of gathering the ingredients. But then his lips faltered, and his hands stopped moving. 

It hit him then, he had become a classic homebody, and he didn’t hate it. In fact, he loved it. Before the tragedy with Robin he had wanted to eventually settle down with her. At the time he was too afraid to commit a hundred percent. But for Butcher and Ryan he dove right in without even thinking. He didn’t know if it was because of the circumstances or because he wanted something stable and sane in his life. But this domesticity felt great. 

He went back to constructing sandwiches for everyone with a small smile on his face. This was definitely better than living in a dungeon wondering how the hell everything went wrong. Hughie made sure to quickly push down the other thought that kept trying to crawl up to the forefront of his mind. The fact that he had no doubts about being a family man WITH Butcher. 

30 Minutes Later

With Ryan helping, Butcher was able to finish the entire fencing in record time. Butcher stood and wiped his sweaty brow and judged the time from the sun. He looked back down at the kid and saw he was still anxious around him. The man didn’t blame him, a part of him still hates Ryan. Whether it’d be because of who his father was, or the fact that his existence meant that Becca wasn’t around anymore, he didn’t know. It was a mixing pot of all of it he supposed. None of which was the kid’s fault. 

“Thanks kid.” 

“Oh, um no problem.” 

Five minutes didn’t even pass after they finished the fencing when a dust storm of black vehicles and trucks pulled up to their farm. Out came around fifty people, all working in haste. Two people unloaded a tractor trailer of sheep onto their farm. Another led a horse to the stables. Some men even dragged boxes upon boxes up into the house. 

“What the fuck?!” 

Mallory slammed the car door behind her and pulled out a cigarette. She lit it up and exhaled as she looked over her team. Her eyes landed upon Butcher holding the kid behind him and she inwardly smiled. Maybe this family thing is working? She walked up to them and pulled another drag from her cancer stick. 

“Hello Butcher.” 

“You said Friday.” 

“Change of plans, besides I wanted to check on all of you myself. There’s something we need to all sit down and discuss.” 

“You need something?” 

She looked around and saw that Hughie was nowhere in sight. 

“Where’s Hughie? We need to talk.”

“Inside.” 

Back inside Hughie was just about to bring out the plates of sandwiches to Ryan and Butcher when the government men in black suits burst through the door. In shock Hughie dropped the plates and they shattered into a million pieces. Covering the sandwiches in ceramic shards. 

What the fuck?! Who the hell are you guys?! 

None of them spoke as they all went to work around the house. Some went into the kitchen to unload more food, another into the living room to drop off more dvds. And another wordlessly handed a laptop with a sticky note attached to Hughie. 

“Um thanks?!” 

Everything was happening so fast and the bewildered man felt like he was getting whiplash. He recovered and remembered the rubble at his feet and swooped to start picking up the remains of his labor, when the door burst open once more. In came Grace Mallory with Butcher and Ryan in her footsteps. 

“Hughie?” 

“Oh Hi Mallory. I’m assuming these are all of your men?” 

“Yes, now we all need to talk.” 

“Alright we can talk in the office.” 

“Office?” 

“I was sort of thinking on converting the extra guest bedroom upstairs into an office.” 

“Smart. Alright, lead the way.” 

Hughie got up and dusted off his pant legs. He gave up on the mess and motioned them to follow him. Butcher side eyed the mess and rolled his eyes. 

Upstairs in the guest bedroom there was only one small bed, a short desk, and a chair that furnished the room. Mallory decided to lean against the desk as she pulled another drag from her dwindling cigarette. Hughie and Ryan sat on the edge of the tiny bed one arm around the kid in hopes of comforting him. As Butcher sat backwards on the chair, arms folded on the back rest.

“So what do you want to talk about?” 

“Ryan, can you sit outside we have some things to talk about.” 

“No, if it concerns him it’d be best if he was here too.” 

“Fine.” 

She pulled out a portable ash tray and stamped out her cigarette before speaking again. 

“We talked it over and we believe it would be in Ryan’s best interest to attend school. It’s early and it’s very risky but we believe that he should go to school as soon as possible.” 

“So like a classroom or something over at some C.I.A location? Or like a tutor?” 

“No, more like public school.” 

“Public school is for cunts!” 

Hughie was about to retort but realized Butcher had essentially summed it all up. Public school really wasn’t a good idea at all. 

“It’s been decided already actually, I’m just here to inform you.” 

“Of course it is.” 

Hughie scoffed and shook his head as Butcher was trying his hardest to simmer his boiling anger. He really shouldn’t be surprised that decisions like this were always already decided by some higher up suit, never by the actual person or persons in charge of Ryan. Or you know, Ryan himself. 

“What’s public school like?” 

Everyone turned to look at Ryan who looked anxious and scared, but still genuinely curious. 

“It’s a cesspool of assholes who think they’re better than you.”

“OR, it’s a place where you get to make friends and learn new things.” 

“He does have a point though Mallory. What are we going to do about bullies? He’s going to be the new kid, there’s no way he won’t have bullies targeting him.” 

“This place sounds scary.” 

“It can be kid I’m not gonna bullshit you.” 

“Like you haven’t been.”

Hughie said under his breath, which was apparently still loud enough for Grace to hear. She gave Hughie a death glare and kneeled down to Ryan’s level. 

“Every kid your age goes to school, whether it’d be private, public, or home schooling. You get to learn about a lot of different subjects. Math, history, and science to name a few. It’s where you learn the basics of things you might need for when you become an adult. And along the way you may deal with people bullying you, but you also might make friends.” 

“But, my powers.”

Grace stood back up and sighed. 

“Don’t worry about it. We’ve got that all covered.”

“So when will we learn more like what school and time?” 

“You can’t seriously be considering this?!” 

Butcher looked at Hughie in shock, then glared back at Grace. 

“Are both of you mental?! How are we going to let a ticking time bomb supe into a building full of sharks?” 

“Butcher, Mallory’s right. He needs to learn.” 

“So you do it then, or hire some Nanny!”

“Maybe what he actually needs is MORE socializing. I can’t imagine you know who, had a lot of that growing up.” 

Hughie shook his head and looked back at Mallory. 

“Will you let us know more soon?” 

“Yes, I should have more info by Monday.” 

Butcher looked between the both of them in disappointment and stomped out of the room. Slamming the door on his way out. 

“He’ll come around to it eventually.” 

“Maybe.” 

Just then the lead tech operator of Mallory’s team knocked on the door and entered. 

“Hi, so everything is done Ma’m.” 

“Good explain to him then we’re out.” 

The man turned to Hughie and pushed up his glasses before speaking. 

“Alright, so I took the liberty of giving all of you new burner phones and limited internet access.”

He handed a small usb to Hughie and continued his explanation. 

“ You use this encrypted hotspot usb attachment for the laptop I handed to you earlier. It has a program stronger than any normal vpn to help disguise you when you’re online. But, it’s still safer if you weren’t online constantly. So don’t forget to remove it when you’re done.” 

“Oh that was you, earlier?” 

“Yes, and I added more dvds to the pile downstairs. I still can’t give you cable or access to Netflix. The hotspot was already pushing it, I’m afraid. I did give you my PS4, since I already have the PS5, and some games to go along with it. Enjoy.” 

“Whoa thanks! You here that Ryan, we could play some games together later.” 

Ryan shook his head and smiled nervously as he nestled further into Hughie’s embrace. 

“And that’s it, alright we’re all done downstairs.” 

“Good tell everyone to pack it up and head back out, I’ll join you in a few minutes.” 

“Alright.” 

The man gave Hughie a nod and left the room wordlessly. 

“So besides for all of that, you’ll find some sheep and a horse on your property. Don’t kill them.” 

“I wouldn’t-”

“They’re there to maintain the illusion of this being an actual farm. If you can’t maintain them I’ll have someone over who can.” 

She walked over to the door and pulled it half open and stopped in her tracks. She turned around and looked into Hughie’s eyes. 

“And Hughie? Take care of them.”

Somehow he knew she wasn’t talking about the animals anymore, but about both Butcher and Ryan. He gave her a small reassuring smile and she nodded before closing the door behind her. 

Hours later the sun had long gone down and Hughie found Butcher out on the porch smoking his classic Cuban cigars. With everything done and Ryan tucked safely into bed, Hughie joined him. He sat on the chair opposite of him and gazed at the stars and the vast property. Everything was so calm, save for the anxiety between them two. He decided to leave their argument for another day. Today was taxing enough on everyone. 

“So how come you seem to know your way around a farm?”

“Hmm?” 

“Earlier you were fixing the fence like you’ve done it before.” 

Butcher exhaled a large cloud of smoke and listened to the crickets chirping. He rolled the cigar between his fingers and contemplated his next words. 

“My grandfather had a sheep farm. But things got tough and the asshole sold it. Never stopped drinking after that.” 

The young man was surprised that Butcher had shared at all, let alone something involving his Dad. He wasn’t expecting a real answer. 

“Your dad?” 

Butcher just nodded his confirmation and pulled another drag from his wood scented cigar. He offered his cigar to Hughie who immediately declined. He wasn’t a smoker, but he knew the real reason. He didn’t want to touch anything that had touched Butcher’s lips….well, almost anything. The young man’s face heated up and he looked away. Hoping to pull his mind away from all of it. 

“This is nice you know for a change. Fresh air, and the only worry is whether or not I’ll burn the next meal or not.” 

Butcher shocked him when he let out a deep laugh at that joke. 

“Aye it is.” 

They say that these are not the best of times  
But they're the only times I've ever known  
And I believe there is a time for meditation  
In cathedrals of our own

Now I have seen that sad surrender in my lover's eyes  
And I can only stand apart and sympathize  
For we are always what our situations hand us  
It's either sadness or euphoria

So we'll argue and we'll compromise  
And realize that nothing's ever changed  
For all our mutual experience  
Our separate conclusions are the same

Now we are forced to recognize our inhumanity  
A reason coexists with our insanity  
Though we choose between reality and madness  
It's either sadness or euphoria

How thoughtlessly we dissipate our energies  
Perhaps we'll help fulfill each other's fantasies  
And as we stand upon the ledges of our lives with our respective similarities  
It's either sadness or euphoria

Written by Billy Joel  
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So in my mind I had the idea that Butcher woke up to the crack of dawn and went to work outside on the fence. And Hughie woke up later to him still hammering away. And then I realized the time between Hughie making lunch and Butcher finishing work on the fence was too fast. Like on one hand I was going to make it seem like hours had passed, only to realize something. Like how long does it take make sandwiches? Five minutes for most right? Would thirty minutes be pushing it for both situations?......Sorry this is the inner workings of my mind, welcome. XD


	4. My Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time for Ryan & Hughie to stand on their own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whelp this took longer than 2 weeks to write, sorry about that.

Hughie and Ryan stood outside the local school watching all of the other children run by. There were hundreds of kids with bright colored back packs. A good many of them were smiling from ear to ear, and many of them chatted amiably with their friends. Off to the side at the drop off zone, a few parents waved goodbye to their children. While at the entrance a few other parents loitered making sure their child was okay. 

What they both noticed over the sheer amount of people was the awful noise. Everyone was chatting and creating a cacophony of sounds that neither Hughie or Ryan was prepared for. Hughie held Ryan’s hand and they both stared at the commotion. Mallory’s CIA escort men stood behind them at the car, like sentinels they kept watch. They weren’t very great at being inconspicuous and many parents began to look and whisper. Hughie shook it off and bent down to be eye level with the boy. 

“Are you sure you don’t want me to walk you to your first class?”

Ryan looked over to all of the children who walked into the building alone and sighed. He figured he’d have to do it eventually. 

“No, I’ll be fine.” 

“If it’s about being embarrassed I can understand that. But you don’t have to be, every kid has their parent walk them to class. Especially on their first day.” 

Shit Hughie really felt like he put his foot in his mouth this time. Not only did he reference Becca to the kid, but also the fact that he himself was his new guardian. 

“It’s alright Hughie, I gotta go.”

Ryan let go of the tall man’s hand and slowly walked towards the entrance. The crowd already started to dwindle. 

“Okay, I’ll see you when you come home. Have a good first day!” 

He shouted hoping Ryan heard over all of the loud children. Hughie watched the receding form of the kid a little while longer before hopping back into the unmarked black van. 

Hughie watched all of the buildings fly by and slowly but surely grow sparse. His mind began to wander and recount what had just happened. Parent? Did he become his pseudo guardian aka parent? Wasn’t that what all of this was about, to be there for the kid? But the bigger and more alarming question remained. How did Ryan feel about all of this? 

Back at the farm Butcher was pacing back and forth in front of his truck, turning something over in his mind. Hughie thanked the driver and cautiously walked up to the Brit. Something gave him the feeling that whatever it was, wasn’t good. 

“Hey, what’s going on?” 

Butcher stopped in his tracks and looked up. A devious smile grew on his face, and Hughie didn’t like the look of that. Something was DEFINITELY not right. 

“Oy I’ve got a little idea. Come with me!” 

“Why does this NOT sound like a good idea? Where are we going?” 

“I’ve got a new assignment I need you for.” 

Both of them hopped into the truck and Butcher threw a file onto Hughie’s lap. It was a thin manila folder with a single paperclip on top. The young man opened the folder and found a small collection of papers written about a Vought low level supe. One of the ones that broke free from that experimental facility. He skimmed through and found a local newspaper clipping. The article read; ‘Incredible Record Breaking Heat in small town Lancaster, Pennsylvania.’ 

“Wow this is really close by!” 

“That’s why I asked if you’d join me.” 

“I don’t know, will we be back in time for Ryan?” 

“Aye.” 

Butcher turned the key and peeled out of their dirt drive way. 

\-------------------------------------------------------------

Back at school Ryan had managed to find his first class and sat all the way in the back of the classroom. He had hoped it would help him hide, but no such luck. As the kids spilled into the classroom all of them spotted the new kid immediately. A few stared, others talked among themselves in raised whispers. His anxiety was slowly climbing, but thankfully the bell rang and the teacher walked into the room. 

She dropped her bag on her chair and sipped her coffee for what felt like an eternity. All of the kids stopped to stare at her silently. The teacher threw the remaining empty coffee cup into the trash with practiced precision and cracked her knuckles. 

“Alright open your books to chapter four, we’re going to see what Stanley Yelnats is up to now.” 

A girl covered from head to toe in pink with blonde pigtails, rose her hand swiftly. A few kids near Ryan groaned at seeing who’s hand had shot up. 

“Miss Krazinsky!”

“Yeah Ellie? What is it this time?” 

“I think before we start reading, the new kid should introduce himself.” 

At that remark all of the classmates turned and stared at Ryan, making him feel extremely small. He wished he could recede back into his sweater like a turtle. 

“Oh that’s right, we do have a new kid today. Class this is Ryan, now be nice to him it’s only his first day.” 

A few of his classmates smiled, a few waved, and a few even glared at him. The latter of which included the pink covered Ellie. 

Miss Krazinsky ruffled through her large oak desk and found an extra copy of the book “Holes” and asked for the kids to pass it back to Ryan. The child in front of him turned around and smiled before handing the book to him. 

“Thanks.” 

“You’re welcome, and welcome to our school!”

Ryan returned her polite smile before burying his head into the book, trying to find chapter four. The teacher cleared her throat and began to read aloud, drowning out the thoughts spiraling around in the boy’s head. He hoped that if he could just get through the day, it would get better. Underneath his desk he crossed his fingers hoping he was right. 

\-------------------------------------------------------------

In Lancaster County, the truck stopped and two men climbed out. They took in the small quaint little town area, they called “downtown.” Butcher scoffed at how such a little town could even be big enough to have a downtown. 

“Right so lets see if someone could tell us about our burning man.” 

He walked on with Hughie following right behind. When he stopped and entered a small local diner. He walked right up to the counter and sat down, with Hughie awkwardly joining him. 

“What’ll you have?” 

An old wrinkled lady with her hair pulled back tightly into a bun and a clean retro diner uniform made her way towards them. She had a stern look about her, and a tiredness in her eyes. 

“Coffee, dark no sugar.” 

She visibly cringed at hearing the accent and the arrogance that Butcher just naturally exuded. But made no comment and turned to look at Hughie. 

“And you?” 

“Um…”

He looked around hoping something would come to him, when he saw a small freshly made apple pie. 

“I’ll have a piece of that.” 

The waitress’ eyes lit up and she smiled when he had pointed out the dessert. 

“Just made that this morning, my family’s secret recipe.” 

“That sounds great, I can’t wait to try it!” 

He found it was easy giving her a genuine smile. 

“I’ll get that right out for you then hun.” 

Her smile grew and she made her way to the back room, finding her steps feel lighter. 

“Oy, what was that all about? You flirting with the old buzzer?” 

“What, NO!? I’m just being nice, you should try it sometime.” 

Butcher was about to retort when the lady came back with a pie in hand. 

“Here you go hun, enjoy!” 

It smelled absolutely divine and Hughie couldn’t wait to dig in. 

“Thank you!”

The crust was perfectly golden and flaky. While the apples were lightly crispy rather than soggy. And it was perfectly sweetened, not too sweet and not too tart. This was absolutely the best pie Hughie had ever tasted. Heaven in his mouth. 

Whilst the young man was about to make love to his slice of pie, Butcher was fuming next to him. Not only had the waitress “forgotten” his coffee, but when she handed it to him, it was beyond cold. But he brandished his best shit eating grin of a smile and spoke up. 

“Hey love have you heard of a chap named Kyle Fenstermaker?” 

She looked at Butcher and wasn’t amused with the look on his face. So she proceeded to amiably chat with her new found favorite customer. 

“How is it?” 

“Amazing!”

Her little old heart felt like it was going to burst from the praise from such a handsome young man. 

“Anyway um I was wondering if you know someone from around here? 

“I heard, child. And I know Kyle, he’s a regular here, quiet fella. Why you ask?”

Hughie ransacked his memory in search of anything from that file that would be of use to him. He remembered little minor things like where he had gone to school. When it hit him, Kyle had done a short stint in the army to help pay for his college. This was before vought had offered the families funding. 

“Well I’m his old army buddy, I was in town so I thought I’d come say hi.” 

“Don’t bullshit me kid. I know you weren’t just in town. No one is just in town in Lancaster.” 

“Sorry m’am you got me. I wanted to check up on him. I already talked to a few of the other guys from our unit but Kyle went awol.” 

Hughie had no idea what he was saying but the lies fell out of his mouth like it was nothing. He started wondering if he would believe the lies himself. Great when did he become such a great liar? 

“Well he lives up on Hunsicker road, the lonely house up on the hill.”

“Thank you m’am. “ 

Butcher slammed a few dollars on the counter and charged out of the diner. Hughie got up trying not to be rude and laid a generous tip on the counter. 

“Sorry have to go.” 

“Of course come back soon you hear I’m baking a cherry pie tomorrow.” 

“Wouldnt miss it for the world!” 

\-------------------------------------------------

The fourth bell had rung signaling the class was over and it was time for lunch. Ryan had no idea where the kids even went to eat, he felt lost. He just walked around the halls aimlessly, until he spotted kids with lunch boxes heading in the same direction. 

In what he had discovered to be called the ‘cafeteria’ he found hundreds of children chatting, laughing, and eating. The noise was comparable to when he had just arrived with Hughie earlier that day. Ryan began to realize perhaps this was just the way of the world. Loud. 

He found an empty spot on a long table and sat down. Ryan opened his lunchbox and found that Hughie had packed him a pbj, an apple, chips, and a juicebox. In the inside lid there was a blue sticky note that he gingerly pealed to read. It had Hughie’s handwriting and it read ‘Have a good first day :) ’ The boy chuckled at how cheesy his guardian was but then smiled. The little note thankfully made him feel grounded. 

As he bit into his sandwich the girl from his first period class, and one other boy, promptly sat right in front of him. Both of which had bright grins on their faces, the boy had also packed his lunch and opened his starlight lunch box. Ryan looked at them warily and tried his best to not run away. 

“Hi Ryan! I’m Annie and this is Jimmy.”

The boy smiled and eagerly waved at him. As if he wasn’t sitting less than two feet away. 

“Hi Ryan!” 

“Um, hi.” 

It’s no nice to finally meet you! Annie has been telling me all about you all day!   
“We had our parents make sure we were in all of the same classes this year.” 

“Cool.” 

“It is!” 

“Oh um Ryan?” 

The boy in question looked up from his half eaten sandwich. 

“Can we be friends?” 

Both Annie and Jimmy looked at him with such pleading eyes, he didn’t know what to say. It would be great to have friends, especially after having just started today. Everything was moving so fast, but he supposed it had better to have someone than be all alone here for another day. 

“Sure.” 

“Yaaaas!” 

Annie and Jimmy high fived each other before pulling Ryan in for one. All of this felt so new to him, but for some unexplained reason he felt giddy. That was until another kid had walked up to their table. 

“Hey Annie looks like you’re collecting losers!” 

The boy and his posse laughed as they walked on by. But Ryan felt his emotions go haywire. 

“Don’t worry about him he’s just a jerk.” 

“Yeah, he’s just one of our resident jerks. 

However unbeknownst to either of them, it wasn’t solely what the bully had said to set him off. The jerk was wearing a Homelander shirt. 

\---------------------------------------------

The man on fire or how Butcher called him “The Burning Man” stood between them looking each of them over nervously. Fire lightly covered his arms as the man controlled it enough that it wasn’t burning him or the clothes he wore. 

“Stay back!” 

Hughie held his hands up in a sign of caution, whilst Butcher had his gun aimed at the man. Hughie turned and motioned for Butcher to lower the gun, which he did albeit reluctantly. 

“Kyle is it? Stay calm we can sort this out.”

“How do you know my name?! Are you FBI or something?!”

“No, we’re not cops.”

“Then what do you want?! Leave me alone!” 

“We just want to help.” 

“No one can! I don’t know what sets it off anymore! I could burn everyone!” 

The man’s eyes teared up as he held his head and began shaking. Fear and paranoia coursed through his veins making him feel like he was going insane. Flakes of embers sparked off of him as his anxiety rose. 

“Kyle look try to breathe and we’ll talk this out. We’ll find some place you can go away from everyone. Then when you get better you can come back.” 

“There’s nowhere I CAN go! EVERYTHIN’ BURNS!” 

“We can find a place for you somewhere cold and remote like Alaska! Yeah how about that? How does that sound?” 

“It ain’t cold enough there!” 

“Then maybe Antarctica?”

“NO! No one’s there, I don’t want to be alone again!” 

“But I thought you wanted to be away from people from hurting people?” 

“But my family-” 

“Will be alright there’s zoom, plus scientists go down there to live for months you won’t be alone.” 

“NOOOOO!!” 

The man shook and his whole body went up in flames. A ball of flame grew in his hands and he was about to throw it at Hughie. When suddenly a bullet cut through the air, flying right past his ear and embeds into the man’s skull. The Supe fell to the ground instantly, with a loud thud. Without his powers he was no longer able to control the flames. The fire engulfed him and turned his body into ash. 

Everything felt like it had happened in slow motion to Hughie. He was unable to think see or hear clearly as he felt like he was in a daze. His ears rang in pain, the only signifier that any of this had actually happened. 

It all started to come back to him when he distantly saw Butcher coat the flaming body with the extinguisher. The Brit threw the empty canister aside and grabbed the remains of the man’s arms and pulled. 

“Well you gonna stand there like a git or help me?” 

“Why did you do that? I was going to-”

“Be a burnt crisp. That’s what was gonna happen.” 

“You don’t know that!” 

“Oh sod off with your fucking bleeding heart! The bloke was about to be the next Pompeii.” 

“I still could’ve done something!” 

“No you couldn’t! Now get the tosser’s legs and help me throw him in the boot.” 

“Why did you ask me to come with you if you were just going to kill him?” 

Butcher sighed and angrily dropped the carcass on the ground, before stomping his way over to Hughie. He got right up into the kid’s face and glared at him. His usual scare tactic that somehow still unnerved the young man. 

“I asked yah, so Mallory could get off my back about killing the fucking supe bastard. Now grab the asshole’s legs and toss him in the bloody car!” 

Butcher swiftly turned around and grabbed the burnt man’s arms and glared at Hughie. He reluctantly joined him and took hold of the dead man’s legs. In tandem they swung him into the trunk and slammed the trunk lid down. Butcher wiped his hands off on his dusty trench coat and walked around towards the driver’s seat. He acted like it was just another day, and in his line of work it probably was. But to Hughie every death still made him stop and try not to feel. 

Hughie felt numb the entire drive back, not unlike the time he was in that whale. He focused on trying to remember to breathe. Try as he might he couldn’t put what just happened behind him. The smell of burning flesh in the trunk wouldn’t let him forget. 

\------------------------------------

Back at the farm, they pull up the driveway and parked the truck. They spotted the lone figure on their porch step and sighed. Both of them knew, they were about to get their ass chewed out. 

Grace sat on the porch steps holding what remained of her cigarette. As three more lie at her feet. She exhaled and glared at the approaching men through her lashes. 

“What were you thinking dragging him along?” 

“Didn’t you know? The little pup follows me everywhere!”

“He’s supposed to be the sane one in this dynamic. You could do whatever crazy fucked up thing YOU want, but HE’s supposed to be stable! Ryan needs at least ONE in his life!” 

“I do whatever I bloody well please. Tell that to your boss, every time he tries to pull my leash JUST a bit tighter.” 

“You are SO fucking full of it Butcher and-”

“Mallory it wasn’t him. He’s not lying I decided to go with him.” 

She stopped and turned her glare at the other man. Hughie felt her eyes pierce through him and he gulped in fear. 

“Why?” 

“I don’t know, maybe I just wanted the excitement again. Everything just felt so-

“So what?! Normal?! Mundane?! I’m sorry but that’s the whole point of ALL of this! So Ryan could still grow up to NOT be like Homelander!” 

“I know, but I just wanted to do something for me for once.” 

Butcher just scoffed at that and Grace focused her glare back at him, and practically growled. 

“Shut up Butcher you’re not helping!” 

She turned back to Hughie and looked him square in the eyes. 

“I understand you’re scared after everything that happened. That all of this feels too domestic to you now. But if you want to find excitement pick up a damn hobby like the rest of us! You own a horse now, learn horseback riding or something. Not jumping back into his line of work! 

“Alright, I’m sorry.” 

“You damn right you are! This had better be the last time I hear about something like this. I can’t keep coming down here.” 

“I’m sorry.” 

She flicked her cigarette down to join the others and stomped it out. Then she walked right past both of them, knocking into Hughies shoulder as she pushed past. 

The car drove off leaving a dust storm in her wake. Both Hughie and Butcher silently stared as her car drove out of sight. 

“She didn’t want me to join you did she?”

Hughie looked behind him at Butcher’s furrowed brow. He wore his usual stony expression, confirming Hughie’s suspicion. 

“….” 

“So what was all of that about? Needing me?” 

“Only times I spared a supe was because of you.”

“Well, looks like you’re going to have to learn how to do it yourself. I can’t join you, Mallory is right. I need to be the level headed one for Ryan.” 

“And when are you gonna do what you want?”

Hughie shook his head and ran off, slamming the front door along the way. He was one big bundle of emotions and thoughts he didn’t know how to unpack. 

He ran up to his room and locked the door before pacing back and forth. Both Mallory and Butcher were right. On one hand he needed to be sane and responsible for Ryan. But on the other hand he should figure out what the hell he wants to do with his own life. In defeat he jumped onto his bed and sighed. 

“What the fuck do I do?”

Hughie stared at the ceiling upset that nothing seemed to help the tornado of thoughts in his mind. He turned on his laptop and blasted some good old Billy Joel in hopes of calming him down enough to think. 

As he surfed through the interwebs, against the Tech Guy’s advice, he stumbled upon an interesting video. It was a Victoria Neuman video explaining what she wants to do with her campaign. The video led to her website and Hughie found his interests piquing. Maybe he could still help fight against the supes and Vought, through her campaign? 

At first it was Robin’s death and Butcher persuading/pulling him into this super hero fighting mess. But somewhere along the way he realized that it was something he actually wanted to do. To help others and to make sure what he had gone through, no one else would have to. Before it was Butcher, Mallory, or someone else telling him what to do. But this time, he would fight on his own two feet. 

One click later, and he was applying to be a part of her remote team. As fate would have it, Billy Joel agreed. It was his life after all. 

Got a call from an old friend we'd used to be real close  
Said he couldn't go on the American way  
Closed the shop, sold the house, bought a ticket to the west coast  
Now he gives them a stand-up routine in L.A.  
I don't need you to worry for me 'cause I'm alright  
I don't want you to tell me it's time to come home  
I don't care what you say anymore this is my life  
Go ahead with your own life leave me alone  
I never said you had to offer me a second chance  
I never said I was a victim of circumstance  
I still belong  
Don't get me wrong  
And you can speak your mind  
But not on my time  
They will tell you you can't sleep alone in a strange place  
Then they'll tell you can't sleep with somebody else  
Ah but sooner or later you sleep in your own space  
Either way it's O.K. you wake up with yourself  
I don't need you to worry for me 'cause I'm alright  
I don't want you to tell me it's time to come home  
I don't care what you say anymore this is my life  
Go ahead with your own life leave me alone  
I never said you had to offer me a second chance  
I never said I was a victim of circumstance  
I still belong  
Don't get me wrong  
And you can speak your mind  
But not on my time  
I don't care what you say anymore this is my life  
Go ahead with your own life leave me alone  
Source: LyricFind  
Songwriters: Billy Joel  
My Life lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Universal Music Publishing Group, BMG Rights Management

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully this chapter reads like I actually know where I want this to go, because I finally found it. XD 
> 
> I placed them somewhere in rural Pennsylvania about an hour from a major city like Allentown/Bethlehem. Also not too far away from Lancaster. (3 hours drive max) I haven’t been to Lancaster in a LONG time so I don’t even know if they have a diner in the town.


	5. Long Enough

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The long awaited steamy scenes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took eons to write, Holidays am I right? But In all seriousness I had planned on finishing this up for a Christmas present to all of you but that didn’t happen. I've decided to leave this fic at 7 chapters, any longer and it's just going to drag on forever and lose the heart of it.

A week had already gone by and everything fell into a nice groove for Hughie. He would wake up first thing in the morning to make breakfast for Ryan and himself. Then he would pack his lunch and follow him to the bus stop. Soon after he would go to his laptop and work on whatever was needed for the campaign that day, until about lunch. Which he usually just made a quick sandwich for himself, then back off to work. 

He would work until the tell tale sounds of the bus would arrive and he would go down to greet the boy. Hughie would make sure he would do his homework, and help him whenever he needed it then let him go off and play. Then the young man would go prepare dinner and then watch a movie with Ryan and promptly send him to bed. 

Taking care of the child and the house was Hughie’s job while the farm was Butcher’s. They wordlessly accepted their own responsibilities. The Brit would usually wake up at the crack of dawn and feed the animals. Afterwards he would set them out to graze before leaving for his CIA job. All of this had become routine and Hughie was getting used to it. He rarely saw Butcher except in passing before his job, and for a few minutes when he arrives home late at night. 

However today was different, Butcher had been given an off day. The first time in over a week. Hughie had no idea what to do when he awoke to find Butcher in the kitchen whipping up breakfast. He had just come back in from tending to the animals and was still wearing his red plaid shirt, with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows.The buttons half open and sweat gleamed from his arms and his brow. Hughie’s brain short circuited at the sight. 

What the hell is wrong with me? This is the crazy psycho Butcher we’re talking about? And since when were you even into men?!…But look at him! 

Hughie’s inner monologue was so loud he hadn’t heard Butcher call him. 

“Oy!” 

“Huh? Oh did you say something?” 

“Like what you see mate?” 

Hughie’s mouth promptly hit the floor at Butcher’s comment. He felt called out, that he had somehow read his mind. 

“Um, so what are you doing? Aren’t you supposed to be at work?” 

“Mallory gave me another holiday, something about not being a robot. Anyway, here.” 

He laid a plate of; eggs, bacon, sausages, black pudding, tomatoes, mushrooms, toast, and baked beans in front of Hughie. Another plate of the same but smaller quantities was laid out for Ryan. Then another plate for himself before promptly sitting down in front of it. Ready to dig in. 

“Whoa, is this some kind of heart attack feast?” 

“What? Never had a classic English breakfast before?” 

“I guess not, especially not all at once. This is a lot.” 

“If you don’t want it-”

“Hey I didn’t say that, thank you I appreciate it.” 

Hughie gingerly placed an egg onto the toast and bit into it. Holy hell it was delicious! When the hell did Butcher learn to cook? Wait, then why the hell has he been the one cooking this whole time?! 

“This is great!”

Butcher continued to eat hungrily, but looked up and gave him a slight smile at the praise. 

“Maybe you should cook from now on.” 

“Dream on princess.” 

They chuckled and continued to eat in silence. This was nice they both thought to themselves. It had been a while since either of them had ate together. However the peaceful ambience was broken, when a tired Ryan came down the steps to greet them. 

“Hughie? What time is it?” 

Hughie looked down at his phone and shot straight up. 

“Fuck! I mean shit! I mean shoot! Its late! Ryan quick get changed you’re gonna miss the bus!” 

“It’s alright, I’ll drive the lad.” 

They both stopped in their tracks and turned to gawk at Butcher. 

“Are you sure?” 

“I don’t have work I might as well.” 

“Thank you.” 

Hughie gave Butcher a warm smile and then pushed Ryan back up the steps to get dressed. The Brit sat alone at the table with his thoughts. In the span of a minute; he had caught Hughie’s hungry eyes, and then the praise for the food, then that smile for saying he’d drive the boy to school. What the hell was he supposed to with this information? 

A few rushed moments later Butcher and Ryan were driving along in silence. The slight hum of the morning radio station playing in the background. Both barely spent enough time with each other to even know what to say. Plus there’s the part that Ryan was still scared of him. 

Butcher was lost in thought recounting everything that happened earlier. He hadn’t had time to change before making breakfast, and Hughie had caught him. He stared at him with his tongue hanging out drooling, as if he was a bitch in heat. Over the months they worked together there were glances for sure, but neither of them acted on it. Plus the kid is almost half his age. But that look. 

He decided then and there that he couldn’t go on living under the same roof with the lad and not know for sure where they stand. He’s done it for months before at the bunker, but this was different. Before ,his mind was bent on the mission at hand, and saving Becca. Plus that would’ve been extremely awkward with the rest of the crew there. And of course, Hughie had starlight at the time. 

He hated that girl something fierce. Deep down he knew it wasn’t only because she was a supe that he despised her with a burning passion. It was because of who she had set her sights on. His grip on the steering wheel hardened, making his knuckles go white. 

Then flashes of Becca’s face and her last words came to the forefront of his mind. Becca….it hasn’t even been a full year before thinking about shagging someone else. What the hell was he thinking? 

“Um, Butcher?” 

A small voice broke through the silence like a knife and tore him from his thoughts. Butcher looked over at the boy sitting quietly next to him. 

“Hmmm? What?” 

“You missed the school.” 

“What?! Bollocks!” 

The car screeched to a stop as he did an illegal u-turn and drove back in the direction of the school. He parked the car, the wrong way in the drop off zone. Pissing off every parent, but he just gave them all a middle finger and turned to look at Ryan. 

“Hey lad, can you do me a wee bit of a favor?” 

“Um, sure.” 

“You’ve got friends don’t you?” 

“Yeah, Jimmy and Annie.” 

“Can you stay at one of theirs tonight? I’ll pick you up in the morning.” 

“Really?! I get to stay over?!” 

“First time for everything lad. Text me the address tomorrow alright?” 

“Okay, Butcher! I mean sir!” 

“Billy works too.” 

“Thanks Billy!” 

The kid hopped out of the truck and waved an apology at the angry parents as he walked towards the entrance. Butcher gave one last middle finger to a parent and drove out of the way through the school hedges. 

On his way back to the house, he felt like a bucket of nerves. Any number of things could happen tonight, and he was worried he’d fuck it up. He knew this time things were different, for starters he didn’t have starlight to compete with. 

Upon arriving home he immediately went to work on the farm. Hours had gone by and Butcher had lost track of time. It wasn’t until he spotted Hughie that he realized it must be lunch time already. 

The man in question came out to the barn to hand Butcher a sandwich and some iced tea. When he froze in his tracks at the sight before him. Butcher had sweat through his shirt and thinking he was alone, he was in the process of removing it. For the second time that day Hughies brain shorted out at the sight. He shook himself into awareness and thought, if this keeps happening he’s going to have an actual aneurysm. 

The Brit spotted him and smirked, slowly walking closer to him. He backed the young man into the stall door and breathed in his space. With one hand on the door behind him and the other grabbing the wrapped sandwich he whispered a seductive “thank you” in the man’s ear. 

He smirked and bit into the sandwich before letting Hughie scurry off back to the house. The Brit’s smile grew as he saw how fast the blushing man ran back to the house. But not before taking a good eye full of that cute pert ass. Butcher groaned and took another bite. 

“How in the bloody hell did I NOT shag that yet?!” 

Hughie slammed the front door and leaned on it, he felt safe in the house. Away from those hungry eyes and devilish smile. 

“Again Hughie?! What the hell is wrong with you?!” 

He couldn’t figure out whether it was because Butcher is just another adult in his proximity, or the fact that he hadn’t gotten laid in forever. Or worse yet, if its because deep down, he had wanted this from the very beginning. He hoped and prayed it wasn’t the latter, that would be way too much for him to unpack and learn about himself.

The young man decided to throw himself into his work and not think about how hot he found his friend. Hours blew by, work had somehow blown up in the course of a day. He believes it had something to do with Victoria Neuman’s latest interview. Regardless of the reason he had simply lost track of time, somehow it had gotten dark already. Then it hit him like a ton of bricks, where the hell is Ryan?! 

He was about to turn around and rush downstairs when he felt a presence behind him. Butchers hands land on the desk as he leans down behind the young man. A warm breath on Hughie’s ear. 

“What you doin’ here mate? Wanking off again?” 

“Holy shit! Butcher what the fuck!?” 

“Thought Id come up and see whats got you hold up in here.” 

He tried his best to make more room between him and the older man, but with no such luck. He was crowded between the desk and those strong arms. He felt like it was the repeat from earlier and started his face heating up. 

His squirming made Butcher laugh and he decided to stand up and give the man some space. He could be gracious when he wants to. 

Hughie felt immediately relieved and took a breath before answering the Brit’s question. 

“I’m working on Victoria Neumans campaign. I’m a part of their team. Nothing much else to do when Ryan isn’t here. Speaking of which, where’s Ryan? I haven’t heard the bus or him coming in.” 

“He’s at a friend’s house for the night.” 

“Wait what?! Can he even do that? What if something happens!? How do we explain that to the family?!” 

“Stop fretting your pretty little head princess.” 

“Can you stop calling me that?!” 

“No.” 

“You’re such an asshole.” 

Butcher grunted at how true that statement was, and started to make for the door. 

“Anyhow I’ve got something I want to show you, follow me.” 

“Where are we going this time?” 

He walked them to the barn and dragged him up a ladder to the top of the barn. It was cleared out and had a candle light dinner waiting for them. There was a dresser and a bed in the corner, and it looked like someone had lived here. Other than that, it was very sparse.

The older man pulled out a seat for Hughie like a gentleman before joining him at the table. 

“Thanks.” 

Hughie looked at the beautiful display before him. On the plate were roasted; beef, vegetables, and potatoes. And two tall glasses that Butcher promptly reached over and poured red wine into. 

“I’m really going to have to just let you cook from now on.” 

“You’ve been doing a decent job.” 

“Gee thanks. But no really since when did you learn how to cook?” 

“Between Becca and I, I was the better chef.” 

“Oh.” 

Hughie poured all of his attention back to his plate, afraid that he was going to put his foot in his mouth again. But soon enough the awkward silence was getting to be too much and he started fidgeting. He looked around the room and noticed, for having a bed it doesn’t look like anyone had slept in it. 

“So, do you live here?” 

“Sometimes” 

“But you have a room in the house?” 

“Don’t want to wake you lot by busting in at all hours of the night now do I?” 

Hughie was shocked, since when did Butcher actually care? Hell in fact since when did he start being nice to him? Today wouldn’t stop giving the young man the feeling that he was in the twilight zone. 

“Um Butcher? Don’t take this the wrong way or anything, I don’t want you to blow up. But why are you doing all of this? First the breakfast, then taking Ryan to school, and now this. It’s not that I don’t appreciate it or anything, it’s just so left field.” 

“You just can’t shut that fucking brain off and enjoy this could you?”

“I’m sorry.” 

Butcher grabbed the bottle of wine and took a swig straight from the bottle. He slammed it down onto the table and looked over at him. His eyes were dark and unreadable, as usual Hughie had no idea what was rolling around up there. 

“I saw the way you looked at me.” 

“What are you talking about?” 

He began to fidget and all of his nervous ticks were showing. Butcher reached across the table and held Hughie’s face in his large hand. They stared into each other’s eyes for a solid minute before Butcher leaned over and closed the gap. It was chaste at first, as the Brit felt soft lips slowly following his own. 

Hughie’s mind was running a mile a minute trying to process what the hell was happening. He kept trying to collect himself after the initial shock. 

“Stop thinking.”

He opened his mouth to reply back when a swift tongue sought to explore his mouth. Hughie welcomed that thick tongue as it traced his own. They traced the contours of each other, hungrily exploring every inch of each other. He felt like he was in some sort of dance where Butcher led, he eagerly followed. 

Then strong arms wrapped around him and lifted Hughie from his seat. He was carried briefly like he was weightless and swiftly deposited onto the bed. Never breaking contact with those pliant lips. 

Butcher took his time slowly making his way down his neck. Beneath him Hughie, gasped and moaned at every nip. His clothed hip leisurely ground into the man below, causing more moans to spill from him. But all of this as hot as it was, wasn’t nearly enough nor fast enough for the young man. 

“Faster!” 

He grabbed a fistful of the Brits shirt and pulled him down into a searing hot kiss. 

The older man ripped his flannel shirt off and tossed it over the bed, never losing contact with those lips. Hughie immediately followed suit, sitting up and pulling the shirt up over his head. Upset at losing the contact, Butcher growled and immediately latched onto the man’s nipple. His tongue teased at it as his hands traced the line of Hughie’s back down to that pert ass. 

His left hand kneaded the round flesh as the right dipped down beneath his pants. A finger explored even further between the crescents. He traced his hole causing a shock ring out through Hughie’s body and he bucked further into Butcher’s space. His hard on rubbed the brit’s thigh through the pants. 

Butcher growled and swiftly grabbed the waist band with both hands and tugged it right off the man in one full swoop.

He threw the pants somewhere near the pile of clothes and reached over to his dresser and pulled out a bottle of lube.   
“Did you have that ready for this?” 

“Maybe!” 

The bearded man growled and dived back down for another hungry make out session. Whilst he lubed his finger and swirled it around Hughie’s virgin hole before delving in. 

Hughie took a minute to get used to the intrusion before nodding his head. Soon enough there were two then three fingers working Hughie open. Between scissoring motions with his fingers and stroking that sweet spot, it was getting to be too much for him. His legs wrapped around the Brit’s waist and tightened. 

“Hurry!” 

Butcher didn’t need to be told twice, he removed his fingers and made quick work lubing up his cock. He lined up and slowly pushed in, when just the tip was in he stopped. 

“Breathe.” 

Hughie nodded and tried to relax and breathe. After a few seconds he finally felt comfortable enough to go on. 

“Okay.” 

Inch by inch he slowly pushed in, and Butcher had to hold himself back from ravaging him. Fully seated, both of them groaned. He tested the waters by shallowly thrusting and Hughie whined. It was too much too fast. 

“Breathe.” 

Hughie tried to relax and breathe when a hand carded through his hair calming him. He opened his eyes and was taken aback from the handsome smile glowing back at him. 

Butcher leaned down and gently kissed the young mans forehead, then each eye, before reaching his lips. 

“Can I?” 

“Yeah, but slow first.” 

“Alright.” 

He kept it to slow shallow thrusts, as his hands traced those pale long thin legs.

“You can….mmm…..go faster.”” 

He barely got the last words out before another moan fell from his lips. 

The thrusts became longer and Hughie could feel just how long that cock was. Soon enough the bearded man picked up the pace and he was a machine pounding that hole. 

He pushed the long legs up until he was practically folding the man in half. This gave him a better angle to continue thrusting deeper. 

Hughie drooled as moans came after every thrust. Every push and pull felt like he was on cloud nine, somewhere along the way he felt like he had lost his mind. 

All of this stroked Butcher’s ego which was burning like a raging fire right now. He too was losing his mind to the frenzy of his animalistic nature.

“I’m gonna-” 

Butcher was pissed that he could still form words that he redoubled his efforts. His hips pistoned faster and harder into the man below him. 

Hughie tried to wrap his hand around his own cock to urge himself over, but it was all too much. He felt too overwhelmed to even move his arms. Blessedly after a few more thrusts he came undone. 

It felt like a surge of lightning ran through him, lighting up every nerve ending he had. Hughie had never felt this much in his life, he felt so alive. Everything, every part of his body felt over sensitive, and he felt his insides tighten around the thick cock. 

The animal above him groaned, and soon after flooded his hole. 

He slowly pulled out and fell onto the bed, exhausted and spent. Hughie felt like a live wire, he had mind blowing sex with starlight and robin before. But this was something different entirely. He had never felt like this with either of them before. 

“How are you able to think after that?” 

“I, I can’t.” 

Butcher felt pride in his work and grinned before diving back down for a soft but passionate kiss. 

“Wait.”

“What?” 

“I feel staticky” 

“What?” 

“So sensitive.” 

The bearded man tossed his head back and whole heartedly laughed. Hughie gave him a unamused look and Butcher quickly stopped laughing. He chose to grin instead like a mad man, then he reached over and grabbed the discarded shirt and wiped them both off. 

Neither of them had felt this content in a very long time. For Butcher maybe not ever, since this was the first time he felt like he could really go all out. He pulled the younger man to his chest and kissed his ear. 

“Sleep.” 

“Okay.” 

Oddly enough the lightning sensation had left him immediately and he felt so overwhelmingly tired. He yawned and nestled into the warm body behind him. 

“Sleep.” 

Hughie awoke to a crick in his back and a big hand caressing his hair. He also felt a deep burn down in his nether regions, and he shot straight up.   
Last night had happened! Was it because of the alcohol? Oh god would Butcher remember any of this? What if he refused to ever talk about it and pretend it didn’t even happen?! There’s no way in hell I’d be able to stand being around him at all if that happened. Wait, but I fucking live with him! 

All manner of thoughts swirled around in Hughie’s head, as fear was written all over his face. 

“You alright there lad?” 

“Did we-?” 

“Go at it like a bunch of rabbits? Yes.” 

“Oh god!” 

Shit he did remember, wait he acknowledged it. Does that mean he’s okay with it? No way! The gears in his brain worked over time trying to think of every possibility. 

“Regretting it?…Should’ve fucking known.” 

Butcher got up and angrily threw on his pants. 

“Wait hold up!” 

The older man wasn’t having any of it and continued to retrieve his clothes. 

“I didn’t say anything about regretting it!” 

“You do though don’t you?!”

He bit back as he continued to zip his pants. 

“No!” 

Butcher stopped in his tracks, but refused to turn around. 

“I honestly was worried you might be.” 

“Well I don’t. And I’m not.” 

“Butcher?…..Billy?” 

He finally turned around to look at the young man when he got pulled into a passionate kiss.

“Took us long enough, didn’t it?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a wee bit of a surprise for all of you coming soon. So keep your eyes peeled! :) Follow my twitter for updates https://twitter.com/CAPTAINofdaSHIP


	6. What came down the chimney

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A storm cloud approaches this happy family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter I had already written most of it before chapter 5, so this one was done relatively quick. The last chapter is going to have to be heavily edited due to some changes in this one. Anyway hope you like it!

It was nearing the holiday season and a cold wind blew in signaling the coming winter months. Butcher was out on another assignment, and pretty much stayed away from the house. Which was probably good for Ryan at the moment. Even though it did a number on Hughie’s heart and growing libido. Everything considered, Hughie felt happy in his new lifestyle and home. 

“Home”, Hughie sat back in his chair and hummed at how that thought warmed his heart. In no time at all, this house and living with the kid became home to him. A few months ago he was covered in whale guts with nothing to live for. And now he did. 

Hughie took a break from his laptop and thought about everything that had happened in the last year. So much has changed, for the better. Even Ryan was improving. Ryan was growing accustomed to school, he even raved on about how cool his science class was. Spouting facts upon facts about the water cycle to him over dinner. Thankfully everything was going great for everyone. 

Or so he had thought. 

At school thirty minutes earlier

Ryan sat in class trying for all the world to pay attention to the teacher’s lesson on civil war history. But try as he might, he felt anxiety creeping up on him, so he excused himself to the bathroom. Maybe splashing water on his face and drinking some cold water from the fountain would make him feel better? At least that’s what he thought, but nothing calmed him down. Next to the fountain he heard kids chanting a name he rather wished he could forget. 

“Homelander! Homelander!” 

He peered into the classroom and saw the substitute had reluctantly put on a video about the caped crusader. His already escalating heartbeat, was beating ever faster. As images of his biological father barged into his brain. The evil smiles, his hand pushing him off of the roof, his voice trying to convince him that he was better than everyone else. They all filled his brain and he clutched his head in pain. 

Ryan ran into the bathroom to try to calm himself down or at the very least be away from people. But he never had the best of luck. In the bathroom skipping class, were the resident delinquents of the school. All of which were 8th graders, ditching class to smoke. The trio glared at him through their vape clouds. 

Ryan tried his best to ignore him as he splashed water on his face. When he looked back up at the mirror he saw they surrounded him. He turned around and they immediately blew smoke into his face. Ryan coughed trying to clear his lungs enough to speak, and waved his hand in hopes to clear up the vape cloud. 

“Excuse me, but what do you guys want?” 

“We want to make sure that when you leave you don’t snitch on us.” 

“Yeah, tell them Seth!” 

The tallest bully threw his glare at his posse and yelled in his face. 

“Shut the fuck up! I’m the one talking here!” 

His glare focused back on Ryan and he grabbed the anxious boy’s shirt. 

“Stop, please stop!”

Ryan’s hands clenched his head, he felt like he was going to pass out. His head swam even more, and his vision began to blur. 

“Why? We haven’t even done anything yet!” 

Just then he let Ryan’s shirt go and swung his arm. It made contact with the boy’s face and he stumbled back into the sink. 

“Ow!” 

“Oh look Kyle! You hurt the kid, now he’s REALLY going to rat us out!” 

“Well then, looks like we have to make sure he can’t speak.” 

They close in on him, but Ryan’s red eyes glared back at them. 

“I said STOP!” 

He flung Kyle into the opposite wall with a force so great the tiles around him all shattered. Kyle coughed up blood and hugged his cracked ribs as he slid down the cratered wall. His posse saw the damage and ran out of the bathroom screaming. 

Ryan stared at the blood trickling down from his bully’s mouth. He felt even more sick, he needed to get out of there. Thankfully his legs pushed him through, when his brain wasn’t working. He ran all the way home, the crop filled landscape blurred by as he sped on. 

Ryan came rushing home halfway through the school day. Startling Hughie from behind his laptop. 

“Ryan what happened? Are you alright.” 

“Yeah, I’m fine I don’t want to talk about it.” 

He ran up into his room and slammed the door shut, leaving a bewildered Hughie behind. Just then a phone rang through the house, it still took Hughie a minute to remember he was given a burner phone. 

“Hello?…Oh Hi Principle Brown, I hope everything is alright if you’re calling me….WHAT?! Are you sure? That’s not something Ryan would do….I see…I’m glad he’s not hurt….Well tell the family I will talk to them and that I’m sorry….Alright yes will do, thank you bye.” 

Hughie hung up the phone and just sat there trying to process the information. Ryan had put a kid into the hospital. He pushed him so hard into a wall that the kid fractured and broke several bones. As a consequence both kids have been suspended for a week and the bully would return after he recovered. 

He knew bullying was a possibility, but already? Damn those kids work fast on the new kid. Hughie was no stranger to bullying. Hell he was a prime target for them back in high school. Being a lanky, pimple faced nerd growing up and all. He knew sending Ryan to a public school could cause MORE problems than they’re worth. But he’s still holding out hope that the whole experience would work. 

Hughie was grateful that no one was killed and the family wasn’t pressing charges. But he was even more grateful that Butcher wasn’t here. He didn’t need another reason to distrust the boy. He sighed and made his way to Ryan’s room.

He knocked on the door gingerly and called out to him. 

“Ryan, can I come in?” 

Hughie waited for a minute and was about to leave when he heard a faint whimper. He opened the unlocked door and the sight broke his heart. Ryan was sobbing and hugging his legs as he held a picture of Homelander. 

“I’m just like him.” 

Hughie ran to his side and pulled the picture from Ryan’s clenched hands. He crumbled it and threw it right into the trash. 

“There, in the trash is where he belongs.” 

Hughie pulled a tear soaked Ryan into his arms, and patted his head. 

“Look I didn’t know your mom that well. But from what I do know I can tell you this. You’re NOTHING like him. You know why?” 

“No…”

“Because you have your mom’s heart. Homelander didn’t have a mom or dad, and he never learned right from wrong. That’s why his heart grew dark and twisted, and he hurts people for fun. But you? You’re different, you don’t like hurting people. And that’s the big difference between you and him.” 

“But I hurt mom. I killed her.” 

Hughie didn’t know the exact details but he heard the gist of the story. That Ryan had cut Stormfront’s limbs off, but in doing so, killed Becca. He was a fool to think that he wouldn’t have to console the kid after such a traumatic event. But when he seemed fine, Hughie kind of assumed he had gotten counsel or at least met a therapist. Boy was he wrong. 

“You didn’t kill her. You saved her from that evil woman.” 

“But I hurt her! My powers just came out of nowhere and all I saw was red!” 

“You saw she was hurting your mom and you stepped in. It wasn’t your fault Ryan. I’m sure she would’ve wanted you to know that. It’s not your fault.” 

“I hurt people. Just like him.” 

“No, look at me Ryan.” 

Ryan looked up with tears streaming down his eyes. Hughies thumb brushed a tear from his face. 

“Your powers are different Hughie. Yours come out of love.” 

Hughie smiled and slowly but surely the boy returned it with one of his own. The crying finally subsided to a small sniffle but Hughie kept on holding him. 

“I know you won’t like this next part but we’re gonna have to. We have to go see Kyle in the hospital. It’s the right thing to do.” 

“But he’s the one who started it!” 

“I know, I know. But we have to apologize. Sometimes doing the right thing doesn’t feel good or something you even want to do. But you have to.” 

“Fine…”

“Don’t worry, we’ll make him apologize to you too.”

Hughie gave him a snarky grin and Ryan laughed. 

“Um, Hughie?” 

“Yeah?” 

“Don’t tell Butcher.” 

“Don’t worry it’ll just be our little secret.” 

“Thank you.” 

A few days later Butcher inevitably learned about Ryan and the bully incident. And just as Ryan had predicted, Butcher was none too happy about it. He nearly pulled the door off its hinges rushing into the room in anger. His glare froze Hughie on the spot. 

“So when were you going to tell me?!”

“Um Hi to you too?”

“Oh, stop being such a cheeky bastard!” 

“Alright, fine. Tell you what?” 

“You daft! The bully thing with the kid.” 

“I promised him I wasn’t going to tell you.”

“And keep your promises do yah?!” 

“Yeah!” 

“So Hughie, what the fuck was your grand plan? Or did your heart make you rush into this without thinking again?!” 

“What are you talking about? What plan?!” 

“You know bloody well what I’m on about!”

“No I don’t! Why do you expect me to be able to read your god damn mind?!”

“All of this! When you told Grace to hide ‘us three!’”

Hughie was getting riled up from Butcher’s anger when an image of Robin smiling flashed into his mind. He felt a smile tug at his strings. 

“Robin was a foster kid.” 

Butcher’s temper sizzled down slightly at the mention of her name. But he began to pace like an animal in a cage. 

“She told me how she watched kids get passed from family to family. It happened to her once too. I don’t want that to happen to him. Besides the whole point is for him to NOT turn out like his dad. If he’s just with some random parents how will we know if they raised him right?” 

“And what makes you think either of us have a chance at that? Why do you even care about him all of a sudden? You don’t even know the kid!”

This last remark reignited Hughie’s anger and he was ready to fight. Even if it was with the big bad Billy Butcher. 

“I’ve been taking care of him for weeks while you keep running off, so you know what?! Yeah I DO know the kid! Ryan’s a great kid, and you know what I like taking care of him!” 

“While you’ve been here playing house with that little shit, pretending to be his mum. I’ve been working!”

“So have I! And yet I still have time to be around. Which by the way, where the hell have you been huh? Was that night three weeks ago, just a fucking one off? Just to get your dick wet, or was it to just quench your curiosity? See what little old hughie tastes like then run off.” 

“And what if it was?” 

Hughie’s face paled as his mouth opened and closed in shock. After he had to reassure the Brit that he didn’t regret their time. After all of that, and yet he still stabbed Hughie in the heart. Of course Butcher would regret it and pretend it didn’t happen. Why wouldn’t he want to just move on? His thoughts spiraled out of control. 

Butcher just stared at him, trying to hide his guilt. All anger left him at that moment. Neither of them moved or knew what to say, then Ryan cautiously descended the steps. Butcher spotted the boy first and huffed before slamming the door on his way out. 

“Are you okay Hughie?” 

He realized a tear fell from his eyes and he wiped his face before answering. 

“Yeah, I’m guessing you heard everything?” 

“You were shouting.” 

“So that’s a yeah. I’m sorry about that.” 

“Um, Hughie. Are you two married? Can boys marry?”

“What? What made you think that?” 

“Annie’s parents argue a lot like that too. And she said that’s just what happens between two married people.” 

Hughie was taken aback for the third time that day and he felt flustered. He wasn’t expecting to have to talk about things like that for a while yet. 

“Wow, okay. Um didn’t expect to have to answer questions like that till you were older. But um yes boys can marry. And no we’re not married.” 

“Good, he’s scary.” 

Hughie chuckled the kid was right, he was terrified of Butcher at first too. 

“He can be.”


	7. Coming Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time to bring it all home, hearts are spilled. Truths are out in the open.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this was going to be one giant chapter but i decided to split into this one and an epilogue piece so it's not over yet folks.

“And what if it was?” 

Butcher tapped his fingers lightly on the keys as he tried his best to finish his paperwork. The laptop cursor blinked on an empty page, and his mind wandered. He had hoped it would wander to where he had thought saying those words had been a good idea were. The Brit knew deep down in his heart that he may have just made the biggest mistake of his life. 

First it was Lennie, then Becca, and now Hughie. How many people would he deceive into loving him, and then destroy them? 

Frustrated that he couldn’t think enough to do the bloody paperwork he got up. He threw on his trench coat, and stormed out of his office. Maybe some fresh air would clear his mind? 

He walked along the streets of New York, watching people holiday shop. Christmas, fuck Christmas was nearly here. He never understood why Christmas was such a big holiday over here in the states. But Becca had been obsessed, she made sure to always get him into the holiday spirit. 

God it’s almost been a year, if work hadn’t kept him busy there’s no telling what he would’ve done. Although, In some weird way he had been prepared for it. He had believed that Homelander killed her for so long that now that he had gotten used to the idea of it. As horrible and painful as that was. 

Butcher shook his head out of those depressing thoughts and walked a bit further. He window shopped wondering what the kid would want. Shit! He also needed to get something for…Would Hughie even want to see him? It had been a week since their last row, and that long since they’ve seen each other. Butcher specifically ate out and slept in the barn to avoid him.

The brooding man swerved out of the way of more crazed holiday shoppers, and decided to head towards somewhere calmer. He made his way to the park, hoping the cold weather meant less people would be gathered there. 

He sat on a cold park bench collecting his thoughts. When suddenly a familiar voice spoke to him. 

“Butcher?” 

He looked up to see it was none other than his team mate Frenchie. He had thought they would’ve fled far away from New York by now. 

“Good to see you mate.”

“Likewise. So what have you been up to?” 

“Working for Grace again.” 

“Ah, I knew you could never get out of the game.” 

Butcher just grunted his approval then turned to look at the girl by Frenchie’s side. Unsurprisingly it was Kimiko. 

“Oy you still with this sorry chap? Good on you mate!” 

Kimiko smirked and gave Butcher the finger before holding Frenchie’s hand. 

“Ah yes, love mon ami. So what has you upset this time?” 

“How’d you mean?” 

“You are sitting alone in the park with a sour look on your face. Which is saying something since your face always looks like this.” 

Kimiko signed to her lover, “But this time it is extra sour.” Frenchie laughed and agreed with her. 

“Oy, gonna share with the rest of the class?” 

“She said your face is extra sour today. So Monsieur what is going on with you?” 

“Just a little domestic trouble nothing to worry both of your pretty heads about.” 

“Domestic trouble?! You?!” 

Just then a swift jab to Frenchie’s side made him weez. He looked over to see Kimiko smiling and signed to him, “let him speak!” 

“Okay okay, so what kind of domestic trouble?”

Now normally Butcher would rather bite a bullet and tell the other person to fuck off, than to spill his problems out. But something about today had him actually speak up. 

“I may have shagged someone and then lied to them that it meant nothing.”

“Oy vey. Then tell them the truth but don’t forget a present, the women love presents.” 

Another jab to Frenchie’s ribs had him weezing again. “What did I say?” She smiled at both of them and signed to Butcher “Don’t forget flowers.” 

“What?” 

“Flowers Monsieur, buy the best flowers. Anyway I think it is time we leave. It was nice catching up with you again Butcher.” 

“Take care mate.” 

As Frenchie and Kimiko walked away she signed to her love “I hope he treats him right.” 

“Who?” 

She hugged him with one arm and signed with the other “You know.”

“Noooo…..It can not be!”

She smiled and pulled him down for a quick kiss as they walked on towards their new home. 

Later that night on the second floor of the barn the Brit sat on his makeshift bed deep in thought. How would he apologize to the younger man? What would he even say? He knew he was better through action than words. But this time his actions weren’t going to cut it. 

As the hours went on he hadn’t gotten any closer to an actual plan of action. When he was about to turn in for the night a phone rang out into the night. He looked at who could possibly call him at this hour, and better yet who even had his number. It had read the one name he was afraid of hearing from today. After having encountered Frenchie, he knew it was only a matter of time till the other member of the boys checked in on him. 

“M.M, lemme guess Frenchie couldn’t keep his trap shut and told you about today? 

“Something like that, but you can’t blame him. It’s been almost a year since we saw you last. How you doin’?” 

“Everything is just peachy keen here, nothing to worry about.” 

“That ain’t what Frenchie said. He said and I quote “He looked like shit dragged out of hell.”” 

“Awww, how cute.” 

“That ain’t all, I know Butcher.” 

“Know what?” 

“About Hughie.” 

“What did that French Toast bastard tell you!?” 

Butcher had known the call was going to rile him up, but he hadn’t known that his cover was blown. 

“He told me what you said and then I put two and two together. I knew it was only a matter of time. Had bet Frenchie it would’ve happened earlier, so you owe me a $100.” 

“You lot placed a bet on when I would shag the lad?! I don’t know whether to be fucking angry or impressed.” 

“Probably the first one. Anyway what’s this I hear about you lying to Hughie about how you feel? Butcher I know you’re the worst with feelings and shit, but dude. If you hurt that boy I’m gonna have to personally come down to wherever the fuck you at and shoot your ass!” 

First a visit from the lovely couple then M.M. threatening to shoot him, his day was just great. 

“Alright, so you’re calling to tell me what I should do aren’t you?” 

“Don’t get smart with me asshole! Do what Frenchie said earlier. Just lay all of your cards on the table and let Hughie pick them up.” 

“Right, as simple as that is it?!”

“It can be, you’re just making this harder on yourself because you think after what happened you don’t deserve it.” 

“Deserve what!?” 

“Love. Redemption. Forgiveness. All of that. You still think that you fucked up so much that you shouldn’t be allowed any of that. Well I’m here to say that’s fucking bull shit and deep down, you know it. So stop talking to me and go tell Hughie ALL of that!” 

Suddenly the line went dead and Butcher felt emotionally winded. M.M had laid down some hard truths that he really didn’t want to hear. But how could he show his cards, when he felt like he hadn’t any to give? 

A notification popped up on his phone and looked down to read it was a text from M.M. Hadn’t his call been enough for the day? 

‘Don’t brood and just march up to him and tell him NOW!’ 

He put his phone down on the bed and decided to fucking take the leap of faith. What’s the worst could happen? He gets thrown out of their lives? He already was good at avoiding them, how much of a difference would that make? The fear in the back of his brain that knew the answer to that question drove his feet to push harder. He ran to the front door of the house. 

Butcher practically pulled the hinge off of the door when he swiftly entered the house. He heard laughter and a blue light emanating from the living room. The man made his way towards the room and saw they both sat on the couch laughing with a bowl of cheese curls in Ryan’s lap. 

Hughie quickly tensed when he saw who was standing there. The man was enshrouded in shadow as only his face was lit from the TV. Ryan’s laughter halted as he felt a change in the air. The young man had no idea what would happen between them. So he decided then and there, best to get the boy out of here. 

“Hey Ryan, let’s stop here for the night. Can you get ready for bed? I’ll see you up there soon.” 

“Okay, will you be alright?” 

He looked between the two adults with worry in his eyes. 

“Yeah, I’ll be fine don’t worry.” 

Ryan cautiously circled past Butcher then stopped to look back at them before zooming up to his bedroom. 

Hughie looked back at the TV and pretended he was watching it, as he nervously chewed on a cheese curl. Neither spoke for a solid minute and Butcher didn’t move from his spot. 

“So…what do you want?” 

“You.” 

Hughie softly gasped but then it turned into a sarcastic chuckle. 

“Funny, last time I checked you didn’t want to have anything to do with me.” 

“I lied.” 

“And how do I know you’re not lying now?” 

Butcher shifted between his feet trying to figure out what to say next. Worried that it would all come out wrong. 

“See that’s the problem with you. I never know what you’re thinking, and I never know what is a lie or not with you.” 

“You’re not making this any easier for the both of us.” 

Hughie put down the bowl of cheese curls and got up to glare directly into the older man’s eyes. 

“**I’m** not making this easy? What part of any of this is easy Butcher? I find out that someone I had feelings for did too. Only to then find out it was actually a lie just to get into my pants.” 

“Like I said, it wasn’t a lie.” 

“Then what?! What was it?!” 

“Maybe I wanted to push you away for getting too close. Ever think of that? I’m just poison Hughie, can’t you tell?! I’ve hurt everyone else, I can’t do that to you too!” 

“So this was about Lennie and Becca? Should’ve known, I can’t stop you from blaming yourself over them. Hell I don’t know if you ever will. But I’m alive, and I’m here right now! So let me have a say on whether or not you’re poison.” 

Butcher appeared out of the shadow and pulled Hughie into his arms and into a passionate embrace of lips. They poured everything they had felt for each other into the kiss. Fear that it could all come tumbling down. Anger that it had taken both of them so long to admit their feelings. Guilt about their past loves. Sorrow over what it took to get them both here. But most importantly what triumphed over everything was their Love. 

The older man had fallen in love at first sight when he had encountered the broken young man. But it grew into something stronger as they got to know more of each other. He saw how pure his heart was, after all of the trash the world threw at Hughie, he never changed. He was forever a beacon of light to him, and Butcher was entranced. 

For Hughie he had felt a kinship/friendship that blossomed into a deeper love when Butcher had risked his life for him in that tunnel. Ever since then he had associated the older man with safety and a strong passionate and loyal heart. 

The older man was the first to pull away to breathe, albeit very reluctantly. 

“What am I going to do with you?” 

“Just let your canary love you.” 

“So cheeky.” 

“You know you love it.” 

Just then there was a small creak sound from behind them and they turned to see Ryan on the foot of the staircase watching them. 

“Oy, you little bugger go to bed.” 

“I just wanted to make sure Hughie’s okay.” 

“I’m fine Ryan don’t worry. We made up, we’re not arguing.” 

“Good! Okay good night!”

The older man fell onto the sofa all worn out from the emotions of the day. He hadn’t thought any of this would go like this. He was fully expecting Hughie to throw a fit and cause himself to nearly go nuclear and live in the barn for the rest of his life. 

Hughie joined him on the couch and rested his shoulder on the Brit and sighed. His day wasn’t all that much better, and he was happy that at least something was feeling right again. 

“You know I’m still kind of pissed at you.” 

“What now?” 

“That it took this long for us to talk.” 

“Bloody french bastard and mother hen were right.” 

“What? You told them about us?” 

“They ambushed me and found out on their own. M.M. threatened to shoot me if I hurt you again.” 

“Ha! That’s funny, well that’s a good incentive to not lie to me again.” 

“Not going to let that down are you?” 

“Not for a while no.” 

“They also had a bet on us, when we would finally fuck each other’s brains out.” 

“Oh god, I bet they did. Jesus wait were we that obvious back at the bunker?”

“Probably all of that eye fucking tipped them off.” 

Hughie chuckled as he turned to look into Butcher’s deep brown eyes and cupped his bearded face. They leaned their heads together and then closed the remaining distance. 

“Home” They were all finally home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can follow me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/CAPTAINofdaSHIP) for updates and more shipping content


	8. Christmas *Epilogue*

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy a little holiday spirit with the family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for it being practically 2 months late for Christmas XD

Weeks have gone by surprisingly quiet, so much so that Christmas snuck up on them. Butcher had moved into Hughie’s room in the house. And Ryan was happy with both his school and home life. The kids had heard what he did to Kyle, and suddenly everyone at school wanted to be his friend. Jimmy and Annie even came to visit the farm a few times. 

Hughie sat behind his computer and typed away his last memo before he called it quits for the day. It was Christmas Eve after all. He was so busy during the month with; work, the whole fiasco with Butcher, and just managing the house and Ryan’s schedule that he hadn’t had time for decorations. Thankfully he did manage to order a few presents which pissed off the security team. Mallory was angry enough to send a giant box of decorations and a tree just to avoid Hughie from risking their location any further. However he never found the time to put any up, until now. 

Downstairs Ryan sat wrapped in his blanket, with a bowl of cereal in his hand, watching some looney tunes tape. Hughie felt proud that the kid was essentially following his Saturday morning cartoon routine from his childhood. 

“Hey Ryan, wanna help me decorate?” 

The boy looked over with his mouth still full of cereal. 

“Decorate?”

“For Christmas, you know the tree and stockings. You’ve celebrated Christmas before right?” 

“Yeah, I didn’t know if you did so i didn’t ask.”

“Aw I’m sorry, I’ve just been really busy. Well let’s fix that and see what’s in that giant box Mallory sent over!” 

“Okay!” 

The boy eagerly threw off his blanket and rushed over to lift the giant box out of the corner. He then dropped it on the floor in front of a gawking Hughie. 

“Is that not heavy?” 

“Not really.” 

Hughie tried to lift the box and felt it was at least 80lbs. He was shocked that the kid could lift it, but also at the amount of stuff was even in the box. The man decided to shrug it off and not mention it to the kid. He could wait a day or two to talk to him about his powers, right now was Christmas decorating time. 

Ryan ripped the box open and found tree parts, tree lights, outdoor lights, ornaments, a topper, stockings, some garland for the house, and even a small mistletoe. Hughie blushed at the mistletoe and then realization hit him. Did Mallory know about him and Butcher? It was her job to know everything, but were they that obvious? 

“There’s definitely a lot here, wanna decorate the house first and save the tree for last?” 

“Sure!” 

Hughie handed Ryan the stockings and he grabbed the garland. But he felt like he was missing something...Music! They were missing Christmas music! Back when things were relatively normal in his life, Robin and him would joke about stores playing Christmas music at Halloween. By the time December rolled around he would be sick of it. But the idea of decorating with Ryan and listening to the music warmed his heart. So he dropped what he was doing and rushed to his room, leaving a bewildered kid in his wake. 

The young man rushed back down the stairs in a flurry and smacked the play button on his playlist. 

“Are you okay?” 

“Yeah we just needed some music, can’t decorate without the music Ryan.” 

He smiled at Ryan and continued to hang up the garland as the boy watched him and smiled on. Soon the room was filled with holiday cheer, as old blue eyes belted out “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.”

A few hours later, and they finished decorating both inside and outside of the house. And they had just come in from hanging up the string of lights on the house. Hughie handed Ryan a mug of steaming hot cocoa and they took their break. They each quietly examined their handy work for anything that could possibly be missing. 

“So the last thing there is to do is setup the Christmas tree.” 

“Yup!” 

“I think we did a pretty good job so far. I’m proud of you Ryan!” 

Ryan blushed behind his mug and smiled. The place was looking rather beautiful. 

Just then Ryan froze and scared eyes peered into Hughie’s. 

“Are we expecting someone today?” 

“No, why? Do you hear someone coming?” 

Ryan rushed to the window and looked out to see it was a lonely black vehicle. With an even lonelier and somber face behind the wheel. 

“What do you see?” 

“I think it’s that nice but scary CIA lady.” 

“Mallory?”

“Yeah!” 

“Well I don’t know what she could want, but let’s be nice to her okay? It is Christmas.”

“Alright.” 

They sat back and drank the rest of their cocoa waiting for Mallory to pull up. Minutes later a firm and short knock could be heard. Hughie pulled the door open to find she was holding a large bag. 

“Here, in case you want to break protocol again and go shopping.” 

“Thanks, hey why don’t you come in. We just got done decorating, well all but the tree. Do you want some hot cocoa?” 

“No thank you.” 

She handed the bag to Hughie and made her way past him into the house. 

“I like what you did with the place.” 

“What’s in the bag?” 

“Just a holiday meal, thought you might want to celebrate your first one together.” 

“Wow, that’s- um that’s actually really thoughtful thank you!”

“Don’t mention it. But seriously don’t tell Butcher I wont hear the end of it.” 

“My lips are sealed.” 

Ryan always got nervous whenever she visited but this time he decided to speak up. 

“Mrs. Mallory?” 

“It’s Ms. But you could just call me Grace kid.” 

“Ms. Grace would you like to help us decorate the tree?” 

The last time Grace had even done anything remotely festive was when her grandchildren had been alive. She smiled at Ryan and held back a tear.

“Sure why not kid.” 

They wordlessly assembled the plastic tree together and started fluffing it out. Grace grabbed the lights, Ryan was half tangled up, in and wrapped the tree. Hughie attached the little hangers to the ornaments, and gingerly handed them to Ryan to put up. Soon enough the last thing left to do was the topper. Their topper was a beautifully ornate silver star that looked hand crafted. 

“So want to put the topper on Ryan?” 

“I, um I can’t fly yet.” 

That’s when Grace handed the boy the topper and lifted him to top of the tree. 

“Got it kid?” 

“Got it!” 

She gently put the boy down and patted his head. 

“Good work kid! Looks beautiful!” 

“Thank you!” 

The three of them stepped back and admired their first ever christmas tree. It was the first tree for Ryan and Hughie in this family dynamic. As it was also Mallory’s first time since her grandkids. Memories of them and her kids flooded her brain and threatened to pull tears from her. She then remembered the Christmas card from her daughter. Maybe it’s time to finally visit. 

“Alright i’m off.” 

“Okay. Thank you for the food and the tree!” 

“No kid, thanks for letting me help you.” 

“Are you sure you don’t want to stay for the dinner?” 

“No that’s alright. I think i’ll finally drop by and visit my daughter.” 

“I’m sure she would love that.” 

“God, I only hope so.” 

She motioned for Hughie to follow her outside to talk in private. 

“You did a good job with the kid. I will admit this idea of living together, I wasn’t too sure was going to work. But i’m glad it is, you’re good for him. Both of them.” 

They made their way to Mallory’s car and she turned the engine. 

“Good night.” 

“Merry Christmas Mallory!” 

“You too kid, you too.” 

Butcher miraculously finished the job early today. He found a rouge supe trying to make it on their own as some vigilante. But ended up breaking a whole steaming pile of laws. Of course also killing countless number of people in the process. The government and Grace was none too pleased. So he had the delightful task of rounding them up, and send them packing. Which unfortunately for his employers was in a body bag. 

The job was done and he decided to get home and rest before doing recon on his next assignment. Vought really was a fucking force in the industry. They pumped out supes left and right like a god damn factory. That only meant Butcher was gonna need help. He didn’t want to drag Frenchie, or M.M. back into this. But something in the back of his mind told him, he just might have to.

“Hopefully the cunts will take a break for christmas......”

Christmas was tomorrow and he had forgotten to get presents for both Hughie and Ryan. 

“FUCK!” 

He braked hard on the freeway causing many angry cars to swerve and honk behind him. Butcher pulled onto the side of the road and snatched his phone. Even with the greatest of shipping, nothing would come this fast on Christmas Eve. So he looked for the closest stores that were still open and drove off into the night. 

As he drove on he felt a nervousness flow through his veins. He’s been getting to know Ryan over the past few weeks. But he still feels odd about it all. There was just so much there to unpack. The fact that the kid’s heart was like his mother’s, but he had the face of his arch enemy. Then there was his fear of screwing it all up and getting killed. Or worst yet, failing Becca and Hughie. God damn Hughie, he wasn’t going to let him die, like Lenny had. He was going to make sure of that. Even if he feared that there just might not be any helping it. He wasn’t built to be a responsible father figure. His own father made sure of that. 

Despite it all, Ryan was starting to grow on him. At first it was just to keep Becca’s promise, keeping him alive and close meant her spirit was too. He saw it everyday, the kid really had her heart and smile. 

Driving really was thinking time. And soon enough his thoughts traveled to his friend, co-parent, lover? Whatever the hell their relationship was. Hughie and him worked together to try their best to raise the kid. Butcher knew he had no real frame of reference of being a father, but Hughie? He took to it real quick. One would even say he was adorable. 

“Adorable? Bloody Hell! Look at me, I turned into a right cunt I have. Acting like a damn school girl.” 

Unfortunately for him, that idea only sank in further. Deep down he knew he had fallen for his friend a long time ago. At first he wrote it off as reminding him of Becca and Lenny. 

‘“He’s too good for either of us.”’ 

Those words haunted him, he knew that light bright kid was right in the end. But that’s exactly what Ryan needed, someone to teach him wrong from right. Hell that was exactly what he needed too. His mind wandered back to Hughie’s smiles as his playlist churned away another Billy Joel song. That kid was really rubbing off on him. 

Billy Joel - She’s got a way 

She's got a way about her  
I don't know what it is  
But I know that I can't live without her  
She's got a way of pleasin', mmh  
I don't know what it is  
But there doesn't have to be a reason  
Anyway  
She's got a smile that heals me, mmh  
I don't know why it is  
But I have to laugh when she reveals me  
She's got a way of talkin', mmh  
I don't know what it is  
But it lifts me up when we are walkin'  
Anywhere  
She comes to me when I'm feelin' down  
Inspires me without a sound  
She touches me and I get turned around  
She's got a way of showin', mmh  
How I make her feel  
And I find the strength to keep on goin'  
She's got a light around her, ooh  
And everywhere she goes  
A million dreams of love surround her  
Everywhere  
She comes to me when I'm feelin' down  
Inspires me without a sound  
She touches me and I get turned around, ooh, oho  
She's got a smile that heals me, mmh  
I don't know why it is  
But I have to laugh when she reveals me  
She's got a way about her, mmh  
I don't know what it is  
But I know that I can't live without her  
Anyway, hey

The truck pulled into a small family owned knick nack shop. He barreled into the store like a man on a mission. The store sold anything from handmade soap to their own brand of alcohol. He searched for anything that either the kid or his love could possibly want. When he stopped dead in his tracks. 

“Can I help you?” 

“Looking for a last minute gift for the kid and the missus.” 

“Well we have some toys in the section there and a bath set for her over there with the soaps.” 

“Anything for men?” 

“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t know. Um, there’s some rainbow flags and hipster stuff over there.” 

From then on she gave the older man a dirty look as she waited for him to pick out his items. Butcher sighed, he knew that look. It was the “I’ll tolerate your gay kind if you’re buying something, otherwise get the fuck out of my face” bigoted look. He wasn’t too surprised, and normally he would have either trashed her store or stole something just to spite her. However he was on a mission and Hughie had been rubbing off on him. So he let this one go. This time. 

He spotted a small section devoted to some bands from the 70’s. There were shirts, some vinyls, and hats of different bands. But his eyes stopped on a small black box. On it read Billy Joel and inside was a limited edition harmonica and small sheet music. This was it! THE perfect gift. He nabbed it before second guessing, and went straight for the toy section. 

He remembered the kid had really liked some of the older cartoons that Hughie had grown up on. There he found a small stuffed animal of Scooby Doo and figured that would have to do. When the bigoted store owner rang him up, she was surprised that he had picked out relatively normal objects. Not at all stereotypical ‘gay’ objects that she had previously thought. That didn’t stop her from giving him that look though. Butcher rushed out of there and was glad to leave that bitch behind. 

Butcher pulled into the dirt drive way and parked the truck near the barn. He climbed out and lumbered towards the porch, jingling his keys nervously. It was still early for him but he knew both Hughie and the kid should be home by now. He stopped in his tracks and saw the house was lit up. It wasn’t much at all, just a few strings of lights, but it was festive. The Brit pulled the front door open quietly and dropped the keys by the front door. Every time he came back, it always felt domestic. And yet somehow, he was growing to like that. 

He heard laughter as he made his way through the house. In the living room there was a beautifully decorated Christmas tree and something tossed in the corner that caught his eye. Butcher made his way towards the laughter. He stopped in his tracks when he spotted Hughie and the boy in the kitchen. They were baking cookies and having a riot doing so. The young man had flour in his hair and the kid had batter all over his face. But they were giggling away like nothing evil could ever touch them. With the last remaining rays of the sun pouring in, they made for a picturesque scene. They stole Butcher’s breath away. 

Hughie caught sight of the rugged man and gave him one of his classic warm smiles. Butcher hadn’t felt this light since his early years with Becca. His heart yearned for those days. 

A warmth spread over him and he felt the edges of his mouth curl upwards. Something about Hughie’s smiles lately were contagious. The young man’s eyes crinkled at the sight of his lover’s phantom smile. Somehow he had honed his ability to read Butcher and he knew exactly how he felt at the moment. He motioned for him to join them, Ryan joined in egging him on. 

“Come on we could use your help!” 

“Yeah Butcher we could use your help!” 

“Alright, alright! Don’t get your knickers in a bunch. I’ll join you lot.” 

“Yay! Hughie’s showing me how to make chocolate chip cookies!”

“Is he now? Trying to bribe him to like yah now are we?”

“What?! No! He already likes me fine enough, right Ryan?”

“Yeah!” 

Butcher stole a handful of cookie dough and winked at Ryan who giggled. Hughie scoffed as he pulled out the latest batch of cookies from the oven. He placed the pan down and cautiously moved each one over to the cooling rack. 

Butcher came up from behind Hughie and reached around to steal a fresh cookie. Which caused the young man to shriek and blush. The Britarchivearar smirked then kissed the side of Hughie’s neck before grabbing another for Ryan. The older man dived in for a passionate but brief kiss before revealing the small mistletoe. He hightailed it to Ryan’s side and handed him the cookie, leaving a petrified Hughie in his wake. 

“Thanks, but um Hughie are you okay?”

Ryan looked up at Hughie and saw his face had turned pink before a smile and a chuckle blossomed. 

“Yeah.” 

When you look into my eyes  
And you see the crazy gypsy in my soul  
It always comes as a surprise  
When I feel my withered roots begin to grow  
Well I never had a place  
That I could call my very own  
But that's all right my love  
'Cause you're my home  
When you touch my weary head  
And you tell me everything will be all right  
You say use my body for your bed  
And my love will keep you warm throughout the night  
Well I'll never be a stranger  
And I'll never be alone  
Wherever we're together  
That's my home  
Home could be the Pennsylvania turnpike  
Indiana's early morning dew  
High up in the hills of California  
Home is just another word for you  
Well I never had a place that I could call my very own  
But that's all right my love 'cause you're my home  
If I travel all my life  
And I never get stop and settle down  
Long as I have you by my side  
There's a roof above and good walls all around  
You're my castle, you're my cabin  
And my instant pleasure dome  
I need you in my house  
'Cause you're my home  
You're my home

Source: LyricFind  
Songwriters: Billy Joel  
You're My Home lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Idfk what are stereotypically gay things are either, i'm just trying to write her as one of those homophobic country folk i've run into a lot. 
> 
> Btw been forgetting to say, I was trained more on how to write screenplays than books/short stories so if it sometimes reads as one, that's why.

**Author's Note:**

> You can follow me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/CAPTAINofdaSHIP) for updates and more shipping content.


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